The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

The Saving Graces
By Patricia Gaffney
Copyright 1999
Published by HarperCollins

Women's Fiction



Emma, Rudy, Lee and Isabel have been friends for ten years. Through marriages and divorces, children and lack of children, career changes and everything else, they have encouraged and supported each other. As the years pass, they just grow closer.

In their early years together, they save an injured dog they name Grace. Thus, their group becomes "The Saving Graces". Together, they save each other from everything life throws at them. There is nothing they can't handle, as long as they have the rest of the group to lean on. Then a disaster strikes, that they can't overcome.

I think this is the new genre called "Hen Lit". Like Chick Lit, but for more grown up women. The characters are in their 30's and 40's. More my speed than Bridget Jones was.

This book is written in first person, with each chapter switching to a different woman. Each character is fully drawn and has her own voice. Once you've met them all, you don't need to look at the chapter headings to see whose turn it is to talk. It's clear who is who.

Even the secondary characters are memorable. By the end, I was madly in love with Henry. And his mother, Jenny, has a scene toward the end that left me howling with laughter. I swear I would recognize that woman if I met her on the street.

Gaffney paints her characters with bold, bright colors, yet they are us. By the middle of the book, they were my friends too. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I had to put a book down because I was crying too hard to read. Then, when I picked it back up, I got the hiccups from laughing and crying at the same time.

I recommend this book for women over 30, to read about their lives. For women in their late teens and 20's, to know what life will be like in 10 years. I even recommend this for men, to help them understand how women think.

Oh heck! Everybody needs to read this one. If I gave out stars, this would get a full five star rating.

The Cleaner by Brett Battles

THE CLEANER
By Brett Battles
Published by Bantam Dell

Thriller


Because of my involvement with The Writer's Chatroom, I read a lot of debut novels. Some suck. Some are okay. Some show promise for future books, and aren't bad to read.

What's rare is to find a debut novel that reads like it's the author's 10th book. "The Cleaner" is that rare find.

Jonathan Quinn is a "cleaner". He is the one who goes in after a job and disposes of the bodies, removes clues, and generally cleans up the mess. He works for an agency called "The Office". Good money, clandestine work. But he likes it, and it's not too dangerous.

Until he is called in to clean up an arson. When he finds a body where it doesn't belong, The Office goes silent on him, and a professional tries to kill him, Quinn needs answers. Dragging his apprentice, Nate, Quinn runs for his life.

Vietnam seems to be the safest place, and Orlando lives there. She dropped out of his life years ago, but she may be the only person who can help him figure out the mess he's caught up in. Whether she will or not, is the question.

Take a deep breath and leap into the tornado. Quinn, Orlando and Nate continent hop, looking for answers. The uncover the shocking plan, but can they live long enough to stop it?

Did you ever read a thriller, and start to wonder where the character gets the money to keep jumping on planes, changing hotels, etc? Battles handles that early. Quinn has bank accounts, ATM and credit cards in a dozen names. Plus plenty of money in all those banks.

That's a small detail, but one that can derail a novel. Battles' attention to the little details is the icing on this exciting cake. Nothing slips through the cracks. Nothing is left to chance. He ties it all together in a strong net.

This is a five-star thriller. Don't miss it!

RUNNING BLIND by Lee Child

RUNNING BLIND (Lee Child)
Copyright 2000 by Lee Child
Published by G P Putnam’s Sons

Thriller

Jack Reacher, a former army investigator, is being set-up and framed by the FBI. They are holding charges over his head because they need his help with a very baffling case. Women who once worked for the military are being targeted by a serial killer. The victims have something else in common; they all knew Jack Reacher.

The FBI has no leads. The women are all found dead in their bathtubs, up to their necks in camouflage paint. The strangest thing is that they can’t figure out how they were killed. They aren’t shot, stabbed, strangled, smothered or drowned. There are no signs of a struggle or any violence, but the women are clearly dead.

Jack is in a race against time to save the rest of the women he worked with in the military. But with no clues to go on, he is running blind. The FBI doesn’t seem to agree with any of his ideas, but they are still forcing him to work this case.

Child has written other books about Jack Reacher, and now I want to read them too. I enjoyed this book very much, in spite of the fact that I figured out the killer and the method of death before Jack did. Of course, the reader gets insight on the killer that Jack doesn’t have, so that made a big difference. Fast-paced and enjoyable.

Terminal by Brian Keene

Terminal
Brian Keene
Copyright 2005 by Brian Keene
Published by Bantam Dell

Thriller

What would you do if you only had a month to live? Tommy O'Brien decides to rob a bank.

Tommy loves his wife and son. Their lives are rough, but they have hope for a better future. A doctor's visit takes that dream away from Tommy forever.

Determined to provide for his family, Tommy and his friends hatch their plans. No one will ever connected them to the robbery, and Tommy can leave this world knowing that his family is taken care of. But Tommy's plans never work out the way he wants.

One of the hostages is a child with a supernatural power. A touch of his hand changes everything, and Tommy's life spirals into another direction.

This is a bittersweet story. Tommy is a good man, who just wants the best for his loved ones. The harder he tries to make things right, the more they go wrong.

I think everyone will be able to identify with Tommy. If you've ever been in desperate straits, you will understand how your mind can sometimes come up with outlandish schemes. Tommy does all the wrong things for the right reasons.

Read it.

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene

The Conqueror Worms
Brian Keene
Copyright 2005 by Brian Keene
A Leisure Book Published by Dorchester Publishing Co Inc.

Horror

Teddy Garnett is writing his story down for the future…if there is a future. The chances are looking slim.

One day it started raining, and didn't stop. The seas rose. Entire cities disappeared under water. But the rain kept coming.

Teddy spins his tale from a mountain in West Virginia. He's seen a lot in his 80-some years, so he decides to sit out the storm at home, instead of evacuating with the National Guard. By Rainy Day 41, he questions his decision. There seems to be nobody left in the world but himself, his friend Carl, and Crazy Earl. And the worms.

On Day 42, the city folks drop out of the sky. Kevin and Sarah have their own story to tell, once things calm down a bit. But the rain doesn't stop.

Brian signed this book "Audrey, read this on a rainy day." I did. I don't recommend it. The sound of rain gave me the creeps for weeks.
Read this book, but read it on a bright, sunny day. Don't worry. Next time it rains, you will remember the book clearly.

COAL RUN by Tawni O'Dell

COAL RUN
By Tawni O'Dell
Copyright Tawni O'Dell, 2004
Published by Penguin Group

Genre - Drama

Ivan Zoschenko was a high school football hero. An injury ended his career right before leaving for the pros. But it wasn't the accident that crippled him emotionally.

Eighteen years of roaming comes to an end, as Ivan returns home. The local sheriff hires him as a deputy. He moves in with his sister, a still lovely former beauty queen, and all her children. Mom is glad to have him back. He's still considered a small-town football hero. Life is relatively quiet. But a storm is building.

A former teammate is about to be released from prison. Old secrets are about to be revealed. And Ivan will have to face the demons he's been running from.

The characters are bright, vivid people that you will care about. Ivan's sister is definitely her own woman. His childhood idol, Val, has been running from the past as hard as Ivan has. The woman with all the answers will never, ever tell. But secrets are hard to hide in a small town.

I thought O'Dell's first book was really good. This one is even better. Coal Run is set in my home area, and I feel I know these people. Her setting is spot-on, as is the culture of small town western Pennsylvania.
Don't miss this one. It's worth every word.

The Grail Conspiracy by Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore

THE GRAIL CONSPIRACY
BY Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore
Copyright 2005 by Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore
Published by Midnight Ink, a division of Llewellyn Publications

Mystery

Move over Dan Brown, you lose. Sholes and Moore took your basic premise and did it better.

Rookie SSN reporter Cotton Stone will go as far as she has to, to get a story. Right off the bat, we land in Northern Iraq as Stone is tossed from a vehicle and abandoned in the desert. At night. Alone.

Stone doesn't waste time crying or moaning about her predicament. She gathers up her precious video tapes and starts walking. Of course, she walks straight into the story of a lifetime. A story that could end her life.

A man is killed in front of her eyes. The survivor dies of a heart attack in Stone's arms. With his last breath, he speaks to her…in a secret language spoken only by Stone and her dead twin sister. He shoves a wooden box in her arms and tells her "You are the only one".

The box contains what may be the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. And there are people who want it, and Stone.

Stone joins with Biblical scholar and priest John Tyler to figure out the story of the cup…and to stay alive. Tyler is on leave from his priestly duties, trying to find his purpose. He feels there is something important he should do with his life, but he can't figure out what it is. Is Stone his answer? Keeping her safe is definitely a big job.

Cotton Stone is not a weak woman. She's young and confused, but she has inner strength that brings her through everything. Including a family history she never knew.

John Tyler is a man with a mission. He just doesn't know what the mission is. He discovers that everything he's learned and done in his life has been preparing him for this adventure.

Sholes/Moore have created strong characters that we care about, and an adventure story you can't put down. Remember all those long, boring lectures Dan Brown put in his book? Forget about them. The closest Sholes/Moore come to a lecture is the less than two page prologue. All the other history you need to know is scattered through the book in an interesting fashion.
No droning lectures in this book. Sholes/Moore have given us a whirlwind adventure story. Grab it quick, then get the next book in the series!

RAIN FALL By Barry Eisler

RAIN FALL
By Barry Eisler
Copyright 2002 by Barry Eisler
Published by GP Putnam's Sons

Genre: Thriller

John Rain is a hired killer. His specialty is "death by natural causes". There are three rules for hiring him: He doesn't go after women. He won't take a job if anyone else is on it. And he will only go after a principle character.

Trained by the US Special Forces to fight in Vietnam, he now lives in Tokyo. Something traumatic happened at the end of his Vietnam tour, and Rain turned against his American past. Half Japanese, half American, he is all loner. He doesn't let anyone close. If you allow people to get close to you, you get hurt. He has no intention of getting hurt again.

John Rain is a man torn apart: Japanese/American; soldier/assassin; samurai/ronin. The war is within himself. But he shows nothing on the outside.

Eisler doesn't waste time, dropping us into a hit on the very first page. Rain calmly does his job, but his internal warning system goes on high alert. Something here isn't what it seems.

Circumstances bring jazz pianist Midori Kawamura into his life -- the daughter of the man killed in chapter one. Midori is the key to something she doesn't know about, and she's going to die for it. Rain doesn't like that plan.

This is a fast-paced action thriller. Eisler has created a cold-blooded killer the reader cares about. He makes us feel Rain's agony, and gradually feeds us the back story that turned Rain into the man he is today. The plot twists and turns, drags us into dark alleys and then throws us out into light on the other side. Who can be trusted? Maybe no one. Sometimes, not even John Rain.
This is the first book in a series. Get them all. When you finish this one, you will gasp for air and immediately reach for the next one.